Chapter Text
“Hey, did you hear me?”
You were pulled from your reverie by Dustin’s hand snapping in your face. Blinking, you shot him an apologetic look.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“I asked if you were okay,” he replied, brows furrowing with worry.
You paused before answering.
No, you wanted to say, I’m not, and I don’t think I ever will be again. When Eddie died, he had taken a part of you with him.
“Yeah,” you finally responded.
It was a blatant lie, but Dustin was tactful enough not to push the matter.
A storm was beginning to brew overhead, the perfect day for a funeral — and what a pitiful funeral it was.
No body to bury, no crowd of mourners, and no cemetery in town that would sell a plot for the empty coffin of a Satanic freak. Even the priest had to be guilted into performing the memorial service.
The worst, though, was watching Eddie’s uncle fall apart. Gareth and Jeff held the old man as his legs gave out from grief, propping him up as he sobbed.
“My boy is gone!” he bawled in anguish. “My boy is dead, and I can’t even bury him!”
Seeing his hopelessness, his all-encompassing despair had been too much for you to handle. Unthinkingly, you fled.
Maybe someone called your name. Maybe they even ran after you. Your desolation insulated you from anything or anyone else. There was only a lack of Eddie and an abundance of misery.
Your feet carried you away — away from the funeral of your only love, away from the heart-wrenching pain that would haunt you for life.
You stopped sprinting and regained your sense of self only when you reached your destination. An idea had formed in your mind. It was idiotic — suicidal — but Wayne’s words rang in your head.
I can’t even bury him.
You had no weapons, nor any form of protection. You should have been fearful. Apprehensive. At the very least, hesitant.
But you weren’t.
Here, standing at the threshold to the Upside Down, you felt only that pervasive sense of loss and the need to do something.
Either you would bring Eddie’s body back, or you would die trying.
That familiar chill went down your spine and settled into your bones as you crossed over. You wondered if this was what death felt like.
The Upside Down was unusually quiet, unnervingly still. You had half-expected to be swarmed upon your entrance.
Death by demobat, you thought with morbid humor.
But there was nothing but the dark and the cold to accompany you on your journey.
It was not a long walk to where Eddie had died, but you took deliberately slow steps. The idea of seeing his body for the first time had you trembling, and you wanted to put it off for as long as possible.
It was a childish notion, but felt that if no one saw the body, then he didn’t really have to be dead. You would soon have to face reality, though, as you had finally reached the trailer park.
You steeled yourself for whatever you might see — for whatever condition his body might be in. A horrid thought crossed your mind that the Upside Down might have some sort of scavenger beats. Demovultures, or the like. If that were the case, how much of Eddie would be left?
The only thing between you and Eddie’s corpse was a trailer. Just one old trailer. Forcing courage you did not feel, you finally stepped out from behind it and made yourself look.
When your eyes finally landed on their target, you drew a sharp breath and your heart dropped to your stomach.
Eddie’s body was gone.
Your thoughts raced as you rushed over.
Had someone taken it? Had something eaten it? Were you in the wrong spot?
The blood splatter was still there; the dark pool had soaked into the arid soil and dried like that. This had to be the place. This was where your boyfriend died.
You dropped to your knees in defeat as hot tears poured down your cheeks. You hadn’t realized until now just how much you longed to see him one last time, no matter how painful it might be.
And now that had been taken away from you. There was no goodbye, no last kiss. Eddie had disappeared, vanished, like-
“I hope those tears are for me,” came an amused voice from behind you.
Whipping around, you stared.
And stared.
And stared.
You gaped, but no words came out. The tears still streamed down your cheeks, as if they missed the memo your body sent out to be shocked instead of sad.
There, standing in front of you, was…
“Eddie?” you whispered raspily, incredulous of what your eyes were showing you.
“In the flesh.”
He flashed a bitter smile, but you didn’t catch it as you hastily got to your feet and practically flew into his arms. Your own were like a vice around him, squeezing tightly as if letting go might allow him to slip away again.
“How are you alive?” you croaked out between joyful tears and hasty kisses as his hands came to rest on your back.
“I guess the universe just wasn’t done with me,” he drawled, making you bark out a laugh that sounded more like a sob.
You continued to kiss him, crashing your lips against his. His fist curled into your shirt as you clung to each other.
He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive! your brain rejoiced.
When you finally broke apart, a large, giddy grin had overtaken your face.
“We can go home, Eds,” you murmured, resting your forehead against his and holding his face in your hands.
To say you were lucky was an understatement. To call yourself happy did not do the feeling justice. Your heart swelled and was fit to burst, and you gazed lovingly into his eyes as he pulled back to look at you.
“No, we can’t.”
His words didn’t process in your mind. With a perplexed smile, you shook your head.
“We can! There’s a gate open, that's how I got here.”
Eddie returned your smile and placed a warm hand around the back of your neck, tugging you closer to him. Looking deeply into your eyes, he spoke again.
“We can leave. But we’re not going to.”
It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on your head, and you jerked away accordingly. His grip on your neck was like iron, though, and so you didn’t move far.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
For the first time since you entered the Upside Down, you took a look at him without the rose-tinted glasses.
His wounds from the battle were all healed, and he was wearing different clothes than the day he died — strange clothes, dark and leathery like some kind of ancient armor.
But what shocked you the most were his eyes; they were world-weary and flanked by dark circles he had not previously had.
“Eddie, what’s going on?” you demanded.
He was silent for a moment, eyeing you warily. Finally, he spoke.
“How much time has passed?”
“What?”
Whatever you expected him to say, it was not that.
“Since I died. How much time has passed in the real world?”
“A couple of weeks,” you answered shakily, slowly gleaning where he was going with this.
“A couple of weeks,” he repeated with a low whistle. “Weeks.”
You nodded in response, dreading the answer to the question you were about to ask.
“Eddie.” Your throat was dry as sand, but you forced yourself to talk anyway. “How long has it been for you?”
“Nine years, six months, twenty-seven days,” he replied immediately with a sour smile. “Give or take. It’s hard to tell without the sun.”
The wind was knocked out of your body as if you had been punched.
“You-” you began breathlessly. “You’ve been stuck here for nine years? How is that possible?”
He shrugged, and you were struck by how nonchalant he seemed. Once again, tears pooled in your eyes.
Tutting condescendingly, Eddie brushed away the ones that spilled over. “No tears, please. It’s a waste of good suffering.”
Your eyes snapped up to meet his in confusion. “What?”
Apologetically, he smiled. “Ah, you won’t have read that yet. It didn’t get published until November 1986. You’ll like the movie better though, especially the way Pinhead delivers that line.”
You were even more bewildered now, and you wondered if he was experiencing some sort of psychosis.
He reached out a hand and cupped your face tenderly, stroking your cheek with his thumb. Your eyelids fluttered shut at the touch.
“I could see you,” he finally explained quietly. “Not all the time, but I’d catch glimpses of your life. Some were longer than others. Sometimes there were weeks or months between them, but they… they kept me going for a while.”
His hand dropped, and you opened your eyes to see a colder look on his face.
“And then you fell in love with someone else.” His lips curled as if the words were poison on his tongue, and there was molten rage behind his eyes. “You stopped waiting for me. You moved on.”
Your heart clenched at the betrayal in his voice, and you unthinkingly shook your head. “I don’t- I haven’t-”
“Not yet,” he conceded, face softening at your distress. “But you will if you go back.”
You wanted to argue that you would never love another, but what use was it when he had already seen you do so in the future?
“Then come with me, Eddie,” you begged, grasping his hands. “Please. It won’t end up like that if you’re with me.”
He shook his head with a sorrowful smile. “You don’t get it yet.”
“What don’t I get?” you asked, exasperated by his cryptic words.
“I’m not the same man I was when you last saw me.”
“You’re still you. You’re still my Eddie.”
“But not the Eddie you knew,” he insisted, pulling his hands free and backing away from you
You looked on in confusion as he raised his arms above his head, palms facing the sky. That confusion turned to horror when hundreds of demobats descended from the sky and encircled the two of you.
Shrieking and crouching down from the swarm, you turned to Eddie with wide, terrified eyes.
“They won’t hurt you,” he assured you calmly. “I won’t let them.”
As if to prove his point, he thrust his hands back up and they returned to the sky. You took an unconscious step back, watching him uneasily.
“Eddie, what’s happened to you?”
He cracked his neck and smiled lazily at you. The light gleamed off his teeth, and you noticed his canines were longer and sharper than they had previously been.
“Living here has transformed me. I guess you could say the Upside Down has… revamped me.”
You would have groaned at the pun had its implications not been so horrific. In disbelief, you shook your head again.
“So, what, you’re a… vampire?”
“Something like that. Although I prefer Dark Lord of the Upside Down, Prince of Darkness, that sort of thing. Metal, isn’t it?”
His tone was playful, but his face was dead serious. As he continued staring at you, you realized you were afraid of Eddie.
“Are you going to kill me, then?” you asked timidly.
That seemed to take him by surprise, and he cocked his head. “Why would I do that?”
Like a predator stalking his prey, he began to approach you. Somewhere in the back of your mind was a small voice screaming at you to run, but it was no use. His eyes had you glued to the spot.
“I just got you back, sweetheart.” His voice was dangerously affectionate as he grasped your waist and pulled you against his chest. “And I would never hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”
Numbly, mindlessly, you nodded. Eddie grinned.
“Good.”
He pulled you in for a kiss, and despite your fright you returned it.
“I can’t lose you again,” he whispered after breaking the kiss.
Entranced, you were unable to find your voice, and so you simply nodded at him again.
“I won’t,” he vowed, stroking your hair and gently pulling it to the side. You didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late.
Before you could pull away, he sank his fangs into your neck, claiming you as his. Your body went into shock at the rapid blood loss, and you passed out in his embrace.
Eddie swept you up into his arms bridal-style and began carrying you back to his palace.
You would be angry when you woke up, he was sure, but eventually you’d forgive him. You were made for each other, he was certain of it.
If he was to rule, then you would rule by his side. Forever.